Page 62 - KW LUXURY MAGAZINE

Genuwine Cellars & Washington Valley Wine Cellar designs
“We did a two-story wine room in Long Island, (New York), where the cellar on the main oor had a glass oor so you could see the basement cellar,” explains Daul. “The upper was modern and the downstairs was Tuscan. It had a spiral staircase in the cellars connecting the two, and it was featured in The Wall Street Journal.”
Although the design of a cellar proves to
be an important part in creating an exclusive masterpiece, the process through which the layout goes from paper to cellar is key. “Obviously, I am biased, but I can honestly tell you that Joe and
I are involved in every cellar we build. We are driven by two things. One is design, and the other is making each and every customer a fan for life.”
To guarantee that clients are able to understand what their custom cellar will look like, Genuwine Cellars in Winnipeg, Canada, utilizes technology to assist in the design process. “It’s sometimes hard to visualize if you know you’re talking about a concept or about sketches, so we put together the 3D [image] so everybody has something to bite into,” says Brooklyn Hurst, Genuwine Cellars’ chief operating of cer.
Hurst describes the company as “a unique unicorn” and has grown to be one of the leading wine cellar companies in the world. He notes
that contemporary designs have become popular amongst wine enthusiasts looking to showcase their collection in an exciting way, as wine walls and glass enclosures are particularly desired. At the higher end, Hurst describes how people are building two different wine cellars in their homes. “They’re splitting up the cellars. So you’d have in a big home a white wine cellar that’s separate from [your] red wines.”
Hurst points out that beyond the look of the cellar, there is an everlasting aspect to one, as well. “It’s a way for you to almost guarantee that your children will be into wine and will not just start from zero, because they’ll be a part of the culture growing up and then they’ll have a collection that can be passed on.”
Jay Rosen, president of Washington Valley Wine Cellars, talks about the feature that is most important to a custom wine cellar. “For somebody who’s really a collector and really knowledgeable,
the wine is what’s going to stick out.” Rosen, who has been in business for 25 years, constructs mainly traditional cellars and uses his knowledge of ne wines to produce exquisite cellars, some that can hold up to 1,200 bottles. “When you have a bottle of champagne or a great Cabernet and you drink it the day you buy it, you’re not getting your money’s worth, and part of the reason is because the wine
is going to be drinking best in 10 or 20 years down the road,” says Rosen. He goes on to say, “We try to design the space so that aesthetically, it looks great and then functionally, it provides the storage that people are looking for.”
Vigilant, Inc.
Dover, New Hampshire • vigilantinc.com Joseph & Curtis Custom Wine Cellars
Mountainside, New Jersey • josephandcurtis.com Genuwine Cellars
Winnipeg, Canada • genuwinecellars.com
Washington Valley Wine Cellars
Martinsville, New Jersey • washingtonvalleycellars.com
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PHOTO BY TIM STONE PHOTO BY HAL BROWN ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM / PAULGRECAUD